The Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform has published the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill, which implements an EU Directive to bring Irish laws into line with other EU member states.
Dermot Ahern said the legislation would allow the gardaí, the Defence Forces and the Revenue Commissioners to request telephone and internet data in restricted circumstances to prevent serious offences and to safeguard the security of the State.
Under the Bill, service providers will now be obliged to retain telephone data for two years - a reduction from three years - and internet data for 12 months.
Mr Ahern said only the traffic details of communications, not the contents, would be stored or retrieved. He added that the Bill would provide safeguards for citizens' rights to privacy.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has indicated that it will 'carefully study 'the Retention of Data Bill in order to establish whether it is human right compliant.'
ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said it would be reviewing the Communications Bill against relevant human rights standards in relation to privacy.
'It trusts that, by contrast with the unseemly haste in which the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill has been rushed through the Dáil, parliamentarians will also be provided with sufficient time to thoroughly scrutinise this new draft law,' he said.
While welcoming the powers the Bill would give to gardaí, Sinn Féin Justice Spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD said it is short on safeguards for the privacy of citizens.
He said the powers should only be used for specific targetted investigations and must be sanctioned by a judge rather than a member of the gardaí, as is proposed in the Bill.
